Chainsaws and Firewood (Pic Heavy) MORE PICS

Phil, another fascinating look at your magnificent place and two things come to mind.  One, the pictures of Mary Lou and you hard at work remind why I am so glad I'm a lazy slug.  Two, should you two ever make it out this way then I shall happily pay for dinner but you will never be allowed within a mile of my abode.

Freddy,
Why is that? We'd leave the chainsaws at home

Phil, let's just say that my place isn't exactly um, er, ah pristine... yeah, that's it, not quite pristine.  (Psst, the term pigpen comes to mind. )

Phil, you guys surely work hard, there. You never seem to slow down.

I wish I had neighbors who have trees dropped and don't need or even have the means to work the wood up into usable pieces. No such luck locally and it needs to be local to make it economical. Heck, we all have chainsaws. Not all know how to maintain them though.

I went for a ride in the forest recently  and found trees that were snapped off during a "winter hurricane". One is a huge hemlock (snapped off  20' up) that I had my eye on for lumber, now it's ruined. It has to be 4' in diameter at the butt. Since it's softwood I have no idea what I'd use it for. Maybe make a firepit and use it there. I don't have room in my wood racks for the huge amount of space the wood it will take up (1/2 the heat value of hardwood), and the creosote it would produce. When its -20°F one wants hardwood in the woodstove and not softwood.

Brian,
Yes we lucked out.  I haven had a pickup truck for 12 years now. I can no longer go to where the wood is when friends loose trees. I will help cut it down and/or up but lack the means to haul it. This was a blessing.

Though the tree guy fed an awful lot of good firewood into his chipper. I did not get as much as I expected though there are still some pieces worth while remaining.

I know the sort, just bought a massive new chipper & its easier just to sling the wood in & leave a big mess. I know they can chip 6" but why would you, I only chip twigs under 1" & Beech for smoking.
I just cut back a big wild Apple (Malus sylvestris), 10" around for at least 6ft in all directions, probably not been touched in 60 years. Not sure how it burns but its a heavy wood.

Phil, you guys surely work hard, there. You never seem to slow down.

LOL.
I don't think we work/play any harder than most folks.
I just take advantage of DFS bandwidth to post pictures. Since I don't do social media I HAVE to post them somewhere

I know the sort, just bought a massive new chipper & its easier just to sling the wood in & leave a big mess. I know they can chip 6" but why would you, I only chip twigs under 1" & Beech for smoking.
I just cut back a big wild Apple (Malus sylvestris), 10" around for at least 6ft in all directions, probably not been touched in 60 years. Not sure how it burns but its a heavy wood.

I am with you on the non-chipping of potential firewood. We had 3 trees taken down that were too close to the house for me to safely drop. They used a crane and lower almost the entire tree into a truck size chipper. These were 60 foot tall red oaks. I  asked them to leave me stuff for firewood. They left 3 trunks that were 30 inches across and  20 feet long. I got very little firewood from that, sadly.

You should chip some of that apple. Good for smoking.  It is also great for burning. Heavy and dense as you noted. It does need to be thoroughly dried.

Cheers.

Yes, just looked & this seems to be the same as regular Apple wood. Although its faster growing so less interesting I may find a few nice pieces to send to a wood turner.
I will season the the logs in shade so they don't crack too much. I tend to chip larger 3-4" limbs for smoking as its easier to billhook the bark of these.
I know hardwood is the best but when I moved in we had Conifers everywhere. I have been burning these for 5 years & still have some left. Pines burn as you would expect fast & quite hot but Laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) is a strange one. Denser & slower growing but just seems to burn quicker & faster than anything else. We had a 120ft Monterey (Cupressus macrocarpa) felled 3 years a go as I don't climb or cut anything over 18," this is worst wood for burning, quick, less heat than Pine & pops & bangs all the time. Wouldn't throw it away though, I just mix it in with the Red Pine & Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) we have lots of.

If only I had some nice Oak or Alder, only this Apple & Sycamore at the moment. Hawthorn is pretty good but quite hard to handle & split.

The key test to checking a wood for smoking is to torch a piece and blow it out. Waft the smoke to your nose. If it smells pleasant it'll also taste great. DO NOT do that with Elm or any wood that poison ivy has been growing on.

Apple is delicious on any meat that I've ever used it on. I use a lot of both apple and cherry (cherry on beef and the wood must be seasoned or it can be bitter). But if you can split the apple it will also burn good. I would use a hydraulic splitter since the grain twists. FWIW, on pork I prefer apple or a less sweet wood smoke; maple, beech, birch (no bark!), they all taste the same and are great on pork. Cherry is just too sweet for my palate on pork, but any smoke is better than no smoke.

Oh, and no chainsaw used for smoking wood unless you want chain oil on your food.

Phil, you guys surely work hard, there. You never seem to slow down.

LOL.
I don't think we work/play any harder than most folks.
I just take advantage of DFS bandwidth to post pictures. Since I don't do social media I HAVE to post them somewhere

Yes,  just looked & this seems to be the same as regular Apple wood. Although its faster growing so less interesting I may find a few nice pieces to send to a wood turner.
I will season the the logs in shade so they don't crack too much. I tend to chip larger 3-4" limbs for smoking as its easier to billhook the bark of these.
I know hardwood is the best but when I moved in we had Conifers everywhere. I have been burning these for 5 years & still have some left. Pines burn as you would expect fast & quite hot but Laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) is a strange one. Denser & slower growing but just seems to burn quicker & faster than anything else. We had a 120ft Monterey (Cupressus macrocarpa) felled 3 years a go as I don't climb or cut anything over 18," this is worst wood for burning, quick, less heat than Pine & pops & bangs all the time. Wouldn't throw it away though, I just mix it in with the Red Pine & Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) we have lots of.

If only I had some nice Oak or Alder, only this Apple & Sycamore at the moment. Hawthorn is pretty good but quite hard to handle & split.

We lucked out. Around our property it is mostly oak. I read a paper once where oak leaves were analyzed. They produce a substance that prevents non-oak seeds from germinating. I think that is amazing. So oaks tend to monoculture

Though I was less impressed when I went looking for sugar maples to tap for sap. Only found five.

The wood we are currently harvesting from the neighbors is mostly oak with some pine. The tree feller wants the straight pine to sell. My wife and I get as much oak as we can cut before he comes back.

The key test to checking a wood for smoking is to torch a piece and blow it out. Waft the smoke to your nose. If it smells pleasant it'll also taste great. DO NOT do that with Elm or any wood that poison ivy has been growing on.

Apple is delicious on any meat that I've ever used it on. I use a lot of both apple and cherry (cherry on beef and the wood must be seasoned or it can be bitter). But if you can split the apple it will also burn good. I would use a hydraulic splitter since the grain twists. FWIW, on pork I prefer apple or a less sweet wood smoke; maple, beech, birch (no bark!), they all taste the same and are great on pork. Cherry is just too sweet for my palate on pork, but any smoke is better than no smoke.

Oh, and no chainsaw used for smoking wood unless you want chain oil on your food.

Isn't that what the BAR in Bar-b-que stands for? Bar oil??

Actually I never thought of that. I don't smoke any meats.

I do test my bar oiler by pointing the tip at a fresh cut face of wood. If working correcting it flings oil onto the wood. Though it doesn't seem like a lot I wouldn't want it effecting the taste of the food.

They now make vegetable oil based bar/chain oil. I tried it when it first came out trying to be green. Well the veggie oil supported microbial growth. In my chainsaws!! I had to take one to the shop it was gunked up so bad. I went back to the petroleum based oils. No they put anti-microbial chemicals in the veggie oil to prevent growth. Don't know if anyone researched flinging that versus petroleum off the tip of your chain is better for the environment.